After years of rampant speculation and countless instances of me screaming, "Just effing tell us who she is already!" at my TV set, How I Met Your Mother is finally going to answer the question that fans of the show stopped caring about seasons ago: Who is Ted's baby-mamma? The mother of Ted's children is... wait for it... drum roll, please... none other than Martin Short!
Okay, okay, you caught me. I may have made some of that stuff up.
I didn't, however, make up the part about being extremely frustrated that HIMYM still hasn't revealed the titular mother. HIMYM's insistence on sticking with its original conceit has largely hamstrung the later seasons and taken the focus away from the good parts of the show -- namely anything that doesn't involve Ted Mosby. AV Club ranks Ted as the number one "Showblocker," a character on an otherwise quality show that is "so grating—sometimes intentionally so—that even fans of the show heave a heavy sigh when they appear onscreen." Regarding Ted, AV Club says, "The HIMYM writers seem to go out of their way to make Ted a spoilsport, having him throw cold water on his friends’ plans, his own love affairs, and viewers’ interest in him as a leading man."
Martin Short isn't the "mother" of course but he really is joining the show. According to Vulture, Short has been cast as Marshall's new boss at an environmental law firm, a role played last season by fellow Canadian Dave Foley. HIMYM producers apparently really loved the boss character, but were forced to recast when Foley's pilot, How To Be a Gentleman, was picked up by CBS. (Surprisingly, How To Be a Gentleman seems sort of promising. Alongside Foley, the show stars David Hornsby, an executive producer of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Kevin Dillon AKA Johnny Drama. The name David Hornsby might not ring any bells, but you'll probably recognize him as the guy who plays the frequent tea-bag victim and fecal matter muncher "Rickety Cricket" on IASIP).
2011 is looking like it could be a big year for Short. It was recently announced that the actor will have a recurring part on the new season of Weeds, his first major role in a television comedy since Comedy Central's Primetime Glick went off the air in 2003. Short's return to comedy follows an excellent stint on FX's markedly un-funny drama Damages.
A few years ago, I would have yawned at this news and been far more interested in Foley's new show (though I am biased against CBS shows in general... they generally don't do much for me save Survivor and a few select others).
However, Martin Short was SO freaking good on Damages in a dramatic role that I'll never think about the guy the same way again.